One Last Contract
by massivelyattacked
Summary: A contract gone awry changes Zevran's feelings on his time with the Antivan Crows. Written in response to a DAWC challenge.


**Decided to write this in response to two things:**

**1) A DAWC challenge of "deleted scenes"…something that happened over the course of one of the DA games, but didn't actually happen in game. This might be stretching it a bit, as it would be before Zevran actually appears in the game, but I believe it would have occurred not much prior to his meeting with Loghain in Denerim.**

**2) One of my deviantart buddies commented on how they're tired of every story about Zevran devolving into sex. And since I like a challenge and enjoy finding the darker side of the happy-go-lucky characters, I thought this would be a great opportunity.**

**[insert standard disclaimer here]**

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><p><em>One Last Contract<em>

The streets of Antiva City were stifling. The heat was oppressive, and the city's residents were spilling on to the cobbled paths and into the alleyways to make their way home after a long and competitive day in the marketplace. While he always enjoyed the smells and sounds of the busy stalls, Zevran immediately regretted his decision to cross through the market on his way home.

Though, home perhaps wasn't the right word to use anymore. He doubted seriously that it would feel that way any longer.

He focused his thoughts on his footsteps, listening to how heavy they sounded. It was all he could do to drag himself back to his brothers. Despite the fact that he no longer wished to feel part of the organization – the only family he'd ever known – he had no other place to turn. Where could he go, if not the dark corridors and quiet halls of the Antivan Crows? They were, after all, filled with friends, compatriots, lovers…brothers, one and all. Some were no more than children, following a path similar to his own. Plucked from their mothers' arms – or sold willingly into the servitude the Crows demanded – all were destined for a somewhat charmed life. Provided the Crows did not mistake their inexperience for uselessness.

Rising through the ranks in the organization was not difficult. One learned to be a trained killer; a sly and stealthy shadow. And if a person were willing to play by the rules, they would go far.

As far as Zevran, even.

As far as it would take to kill a woman one should never have fallen in love with in the first place.

There was no room for love in the life of an assassin. A cutthroat was destined for tests of loyalty, and when another failed those tests, judgement had to be swift. Just as it had been for Rinna.

As he stopped in the middle of the street to reflect upon his decision to allow Taliesen to slay the woman he loved, an older girl carrying her wares and a coin purse stuffed with her take from the day's sales did not stop in time and crashed unceremoniously into Zevran's diminished form. He turned around slowly and she looked up at him, horror upon her face.

"I…I am so very sorry," she apologized immediately. "I did not realize you were stopped."

He smiled down at her as she bent to collect the items that had spilled out of her grip during the collision. He also knelt down to help her pick up what she had dropped.

"There is no need for such a lovely young thing to apologize over this," he purred. "For had you not bumped into me, I would have never had the opportunity to grace my eyes with your vision."

He eyed her carefully, watching her cheeks begin to grow pink from his words. She looked away from him, attempting to hide her flushed face. "You are too kind, sir."

As they both stood, he took her hand and softly placed a kiss a top it. "My apologies for causing such a catastrophe. Though I am, for certain, better for having laid eyes upon you this day."

Before turning and walking away, he brought the coin purse up from his side and placed it gently into her hand, closing her fingers over it.

That was, of course, only after he had replaced hers with one of his own, filled with small pebbles for weight.

He was, after all, still a Crow. Deceptive. Charming. Seductive. And lucky for the young merchant girl that it was not all of the time, lethal.

As he continued on his way out of her sight, he idly fiddled with the pouch's ties, slipping his hand into it to half-heartedly count the coins within. A short walk later, and he found himself on the grounds of the nerve centre of the Crows in Antiva. He sidled towards the main door, passing by a rather large fountain – elaborate and ostentatious in its design. He looked down into his hand, examining a small pile of coins he had gathered. He picked out a bronze piece and tossed it into the fountain.

"To the future…" he mumbled to no one in particular.

As he entered the hall, the smell of leather and blood immediately hit his nostrils. It was familiar…comfortable. The sounds of several assassins training down the hall rang out like a song to his keen ears. He could hear the clang of steel on steel, as they sparred against each other. His feet continued to move without his approval, leading him to a larger room – a main gathering area where several Crows had gathered around a grand desk. It was covered with the latest contracts – descriptions of targets and payments.

One of the Crows nodded an acknowledgement to Zevran before tossing the contract he had been reading back on to the desk.

"Suicide mission," he muttered to himself in disgust. Zevran watched the man walk away, wondering just what kind of a mission would frighten even a Crow. He picked up the contract and read it over quickly.

_Ah…the Grey Wardens…_

It was no wonder the man had so hastily made his decision. To go up against the Wardens was more than ill-advised for reasons that were both political and in the interest of one's own desire to remain in the land of the living. Still, some brave and likely foolish Crow with a death wish would agree to such a mission. And if they succeeded? Well, they would likely be showered with praise and looked upon as a legend in their ranks.

For now though, Zevran was tired. His last mission with Taliesen and Rinna was a failure, resulting in the latter's death at her companions' own hands. How she had pleaded for her life, protesting her innocence. Taliesen had just informed him that he'd discovered that she'd been disloyal to her cohorts and the entire Crow order; that she had taken a bribe from their intended target. Zevran questioned the man about where the information came from, but the two were interrupted by Rinna and they were forced to confront the woman.

She looked bewildered from the accusation – though no more than he'd have looked himself had he been caught in the midst of such an allegation. When she dropped to her knees in front of Taliesen, she turned her lovely face towards Zevran, her eyes displaying terror at the face of her death. She begged him for her life…a request he not only denied, but outright disrespected.

"Please Zevran," she cried out to him. "I know you believe me. I know that you care about me enough to stop this madness."

He had looked at her then…directly into her eyes. "Why would I have _ever_ cared for you, Rinna?"

He saw her heart break. Without looking away from her, he instructed Taliesen to kill her, and the man responded immediately. He stepped behind her, grabbed a handful of her hair and drew his blade slowly across her throat. _Ever the sadist_, Zevran thought as he considered just how torturously slow Taliesen had murdered the woman. Though he was not certain who the torture was directed to more – she or Zevran. The blood that began to pour from the newly created wound dripped slowly, and Zevran watched her body as it slumped into a pile on the ground when the man released the mop of hair from his hand.

He watched from a few paces away as she took her last breath…then silence. He stepped forward, her dead eyes watching him. He bent forward and brushed some strands of hair that had fallen across her face away from her mouth. His fingers found their way to the lobe of her ear, where a golden hoop pierced it. Pulling the clasp of the ring apart, he removed it gently from her ear. He brought the hoop up to his chest, closing its clasp once it surrounded the chain around his neck. He tucked the chain back under his breastplate, took a last look at the hollow eyes that stared at him and got to his feet.

As reality returned to him, he realized that he had already meandered through the halls to where his quarters were. He was more than thankful that he had finally achieved the status as a Crow that granted him a private room. He would be spending the next few hours in it in silence and seclusion.

He entered the room and slumped down on the bed, the weight of his gear and his thoughts teaming with gravity to force him down heavily. He tossed his daggers aside, flinching as they clattered to the ground. He flipped his legs up on his bed, stretching out and lying back. Sleep was ready to overtake him, and as his eyes closed, his hand instinctively found its way to Rinna's earring on his chain.

Betrayal was a terrible thing.

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><p>Believing that several hours of sleep could make all of one's troubles disappear was folly. So when Zevran's eyes opened and his thoughts returned to the exact moment they left off at when he had fallen asleep earlier, he should not have been shocked. He rolled over slowly, yawning as he did so. When he had finally settled on to his side again, his eyes fell upon a figure sitting in a chair in the corner.<p>

"Taliesen," he said. "How long have you been sitting here?"

"That is not important Zevran," the man replied. "What is important is that you are lucky I was not sent to murder you in your sleep."

Zevran chuckled humourlessly. "Ah, my friend…there have been many opportunities for the reverse to be true as well. You'd do well not to forget that."

Taliesen rose and stood over the elf imposingly.

"Master Goyo wishes to speak to us about our most recent contract," he said.

Zevran sighed loudly. "So soon?"

"He felt there were important matters that needed to be…addressed," he replied.

"Of course," the elf replied. "Well, allow me to freshen up and I will attend him."

"No," Taliesen said with force. "We will go now. He will not wait."

He leaned his head back on to the bed, and then quickly sat up. "Should I bring my daggers perhaps?" He was half joking, but then, with the Crows, perhaps not.

"You would ever leave them behind in this place?" Taliesen snorted. "You are worse of an assassin than I could ever imagine."

Zevran stood up, retrieving his weapons from the floor. When Taliesen would not take the first step, he led the other man out of his room.

When the two reached the room where Goyo and some senior assassins sat around a small table, the man stood and addressed his companions.

"Iago…Jorge…leave me," Goyo demanded quietly.

The man was never forceful. He had a quiet leadership of the Crows in Antiva City and those who were not respectful of that leadership were often found washed up at the shores of Rialto Bay…or were never found at all. Still, despite his reserved nature, assassins called to account for their mistakes at the feet of Master Goyo were often shamed into submission and lived the rest of their days – short as they would be – in utter fear of when they would meet their end.

Which was, of course, Zevran's current concern.

Once the door closed behind the departing men, Zevran and Taliesen stood silently in front of Goyo. The older man eyed the two carefully, looking them up and down with suspicion. The moments passed slowly as the uneasy hush sat between them.

Finally, Goyo spoke. "Your assassination target lives. Yet you have returned to us here. And without your fellow. Where is Rinna?"

Neither spoke. Goyo stepped up between them, facing the opposite direction from which they stood. He turned to face Taliesen.

"Where is she, Taliesen?" Goyo demanded.

"I…I don't know," he responded weakly.

"Do you also not know, Zevran Arainai?" he said as he turned to face the elf.

Zevran swallowed hard and shook his head.

Goyo spun around and walked away from them towards his desk. "I am disappointed in both of you. Not only have you failed your contract, but now you feel it best to lie to me?" The man turned around at his desk, lowering himself to lean against it. "Do you now continue to deny that the woman is dead? By your own hands?"

The two looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

"Yes, Master Goyo," Zevran finally admitted quietly. "The woman is dead."

"She betrayed us, Master," Taliesen interrupted. "She betrayed our mission. We had to dispose of her once we discovered she had received a bribe from our mark."

"Ah, the truth comes to light," Goyo responded. "And from where did you discover this information?"

Zevran looked directly at Taliesen who appeared reluctant to admit where it came from.

"I, uh…I received the information from a credible source, Master," Taliesen said.

"You," Goyo began, slamming his fist on the desk, "should consider who you believe to be credible then, assassin. For Rinna had _not_ accepted a bribe at all." He stood up and walked away from the desk towards a bookshelf. He indifferently grabbed a random book from the shelf and began to flip through it. "No matter though. Your source has been dealt with accordingly. And it has proven your worth to the Crows. You will be trusted to rid our order of those who have crossed us without question."

Zevran's face fell. He had been lied to, knowingly or otherwise. It didn't matter. He killed an innocent. She may not have died directly at his hands, yet she died because of his words. And he loved her. There was no question that he did. _There was no room for love in the life of an assassin._ Perhaps one day he would take his own advice.

When his eyes returned to stare straight ahead again, Goyo stepped into his field of vision. He felt the man's eyes burning through him before he felt his hand on his chin, pulling his head up to look at him.

"We must be careful of who we let into our lives, Zevran. Never forget that," Goyo said quietly to him.

There was nothing the Crows did not know. Nothing they could not discover. They even knew things that were buried deep down within their assassins. Things that perhaps they didn't even know themselves at times.

"You will obviously receive no payment for this contract," Goyo stated, once he had backed away from the elf. The two nodded in response. "Another has been sent to clean up this mess."

"I am…sorry, Master," Zevran said, his voice barely audible.

"Do not be sorry, Zevran," Goyo said coldly. "Just do not make the same mistake again. It will likely cost you your life."

Zevran nodded and the men stood in silence. Waiting.

"Dismissed," Goyo finally said and they spun around and headed out the door.

When the door closed behind them, Taliesen caught up to Zevran in the corridor.

"Going back to your quarters to sulk?" he asked.

Zevran shot him a look of anger. No…more than anger. Hatred. Malice. "It is because of you that she is dead."

"Because of me, dear Zev? I think not," Taliesen said sarcastically. "I think it best you spy into a looking glass to see who it was that caused her death. I may have held the weapon, but it was you who delivered the killing blow. 'Why would I have ever cared for you, Rinna?' Harsh, Zevran. That was 'rip your beating heart out of your chest' harsh. What's your next move? Will you go to find her body and lay with her while she no longer breathes?"

Zevran's hand immediately balled up into a fist. His arm cocked back and whipped forward, thrashing the man in his jaw. He continued down the corridor, stomping off as Taliesen gingerly rubbed his face.

"Don't let me stop you from taking on another contract, my friend," he called after him. "You certainly impressed Master Goyo with your ability to slaughter a fellow Crow."

Zevran stopped briefly, ready to snap and again attack the man he may have once called friend. But for all his spite, Taliesen was right. He _was_ the one that could have put a stop to her death. He could have convinced the man not to cut Rinna's throat. He could have told her that she meant more to him than even he could have ever imagined. Perhaps his time with the Crows was waning. Perhaps it was time for him to take his final contract.

He began to walk again, this time towards the main hall where the contracts still lay scattered across the desk. When he reached the room, there were no Crows in his way. He searched through them, looking and looking until he found what he had returned for.

The contract to exterminate any and all remaining Grey Wardens in Ferelden.

Evidently there was a Crow with enough of a death wish to take on the seemingly impossible mission after all.

He folded the contract and placed it in the pouch at his belt. He would set off for Ferelden that night to meet with this…Loghain. This would be his swansong. His final mission. His one last contract.


End file.
